Professor Kathryn Richardson

Profile

Professor Kathryn Richardson is Head of the newly founded School of the Arts in Queen Mary's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. She was previously head of Queen Mary's School of Languages, Linguistics and Film (SLLF), and Director of SLLF's Language Centre Department. Kathryn is also Director of Queen Mary's Confucius Institute, a partnership between Queen Mary and the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications founded in 2015. 

With a background in Applied Linguistics, language teaching and translation, and Higher Education Management & Leadership, Kathryn's aim for the School of the Arts is that it becomes one of the leading centres for research and education in the Arts and Humanities across the university sector in the UK. We are developing an exciting set of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, underpinned by cutting edge research,  in areas that range from the Humanities/STEM interface to the creative arts and industries.  From Drama to Film, from English to Comparative Literatures, from Linguistics to Languages, and from Creative Writing to Liberal Arts, the degree programmes across the School of the Arts incorporate critical thinking and practice-based learning; they develop students into graduates who have the skills to join an exciting spectrum of professions from the creative industries to digital media, communications, and technology sectors, and from work in the culture and arts industries to working abroad with languages and intercultural understanding.

The School of the Arts is a multilingual and multicultural community of researchers and educators - a community that brings together brilliant minds from across the world, a community which combines research excellence with an unrivalled commitment to social justice and social mobility. 

The disciplines in the School of the Arts rank in the top 100 for Arts and Humanities (QS World Ranking by subject, 2024).

Research

Publications

Educational and professional qualifications

2017 DBA in Higher Education Management, University of Bath

2004 MA English Language Teaching, University of Southampton
1981 RSA Diploma in ELT, RSA International House
1980 RSA Certificate in ELT, RSA International House
1978 PGCE, University of Exeter
1977 BA Hons Politics and Sociology, University of Exeter

Professional experience (post-1990)

2009-2012 Principal Lecturer and Co-ordinator of English Language Development, Kingston University, responsible for Kingston's language centre
2006-2009 Principal Lecturer and Associate Co-ordinator of English Language Support, Kingston University, responsible for Kingston's language centre
2002-2006 Lecturer in EAP; Co-ordinator of in-sessional English language programme; Law Pre-Sessional Course Director; MBA Pre-Sessional Course Director, University of Southampton
1987-2002 Director of Studies, Business English Services, London